CATARACTS, AND INUNDATIONS. 25 



The Rhine runs westward to Basil, and then proceeds in a direc- 

 tion due north, along the eastern border of Alsace, till it receives 

 the Maine, a little below Frankfort, then proceeding north-west- 

 ward, it enters the Netherlands. Its whole course cannot be 

 less than seven hundred miles; the cities of Mentz, Cobientz, Co- 

 logne, Dusseldorf, Wesel, and Cleves, are situated on its banks. 

 The circles of the Upper and Lower Rhine are intersected by it. 

 In its course along Alsace, it frequently causes terrible devastations, 

 not only in winter, but in the midst of summer, when the snow 

 melts on the Alps, Its inundations then ruin the fields, by covering 

 them with sand. The violent torrents of the Rhine, which gene- 

 rally happen every year, frequently alter the situation of the islands 

 within it. One singularity of this river is, that in its sand are found 

 particles of gold, which the torrents in their fall wash from the Alps, 

 and bring into it ; hence it is only below Basil that the sand contains 

 this precious mixture, which in autumn and winter, when the river is 

 at the lowest, is drawn out with the sand, from which, after passing 

 through several waters, the gold is extracted. The particles of this 

 metal are seldom so large as a grain of millet ; the gold is indeed 

 very fine and beautiful ; but is so scarcej that the city of Strasburg, 

 which has the privilege of gathering gold for the length of four 

 thousand paces, scarce collects five ounces in a year. The Rhine 

 also contains many crystals, and particularly pebbles, that receive a 

 beautiful polish, and are much used in France under the name of 

 Rhine pebbles. 



At Utrecht it divides itself into two branches, which are called 

 the Old and New Rhine, both of which traverse the city through 

 its whole length ; one of these branches loses itself in the sands be- 

 low Leyden, the other takes the name of the Lech, and falls into the 

 Mayne. Thus does this grand and important river, after so long 

 and useful a course, terminate obscurely, without pouring its aggre- 

 gated waters into the common receptacle, the ocean ! 



The RHONE or RHODIAN, rises in the Glacier of Furca, near 

 the province of Uri, in Swisserland, but in the north eastern bor- 

 der of the Valais. At first it precipitates itself with great noise 

 among several rocks, and down to 'the very plain in the valley has 

 the appearance of a single cataract, with several cascades. It is 

 afterwards joined by the Meyenwang stream, which issues from the 



